Life Time (TV series episode)
"Life Time" is the 11th episode in the eighth season of the CBS television series M*A*S*H, also the 184th overall episode of the series. Originally aired on November 26, 1979, it was directed by Alan Alda and was co-written by Alan Alda and Walter Dishell, along with phantom assistance from authors W.C. Heinz, Ring Lardner, Jr. and Richard Hooker, himself a former U.S. Army MASH unit surgeon, and author of the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. In an episode where the story is told in real time, a wounded soldier arrives at the camp with a lacerated aorta, and the doctors rush to perform an arterial graft before it is too late. Hawkeye and the gang have less than 20 minutes to replace a wounded GI's aorta graft or he risks paralysis forever. Plot synopsis The crew of the 4077th are playing poker near the helicopter pad when a chopper comes down with a critically-wounded patient. Hawkeye diagnoses the wound as a lacerated aorta, bleeding so profusely that the patient might not even live to reach the hospital. In desperation, Hawkeye reaches into the patient's chest and applies direct pressure to stop the flow of blood- despite knowing that a lack of blood flow for longer than 20 minutes will likely result in paralysis. At this point, a clock appears in the left-hand corner of the screen counting off the procedure's time. Upon arrival at the operating room, Klinger douses the patient in ice to slow down his metabolism and hopefully buy some extra time for the doctors. Hawkeye is finally able to remove his hand from the patient's chest and clamp down the aorta, but finds that they have no donor material sufficient for a transplant. Worse, the camp's supply of blood is running low and the patient needs a transfusion to stay alive. Thankfully, Charles happens to be the same blood type as the wounded man and readily supplies some blood- suffering minor dizziness and delirium during the process. BJ examines the other recently arrived wounded and notices one man with a head injury too badly damaged to help and notes that he has the necessary blood type to match the patient in O.R.- meaning they can take a piece of his artery to use as a graft for the first man. The wounded man's friend is deeply unnerved by this procedure but Father Mulcahey is able to comfort him, pointing out that this is an ultimate act of "giving of yourself to help others." When the graft is finally complete, Hawkeye asks Nurse Kelleye to check the time. Everyone is distressed to learn that they are 3 1/2 minutes over the time limit, meaning that the soldier will likely be paralyzed. Some time later, the patient slowly regains consciousness in Post-Op. Hawkeye and most of the staff watch over him, and repeatedly ask if he can move his legs. After several tense moments, the young man's feet twitch- proving that he is not paralyzed! Everyone cheers at the miraculous success of the operation. External links *[http://www.fandango.com/mash:lifetime_v281260/plotsummary M*A*S*H episode - Lifetime plot summary at Fandango] *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0638346/ M*A*S*H episode Lifetime (Season 8, episode #11) at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)] Category:Season 8 episodes